After the declaration of Lok Sabha election results on June 4, political parties in Bihar have been introspecting about their performance. The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a review meeting in Patna on June 13 while ally Janata Dal (United) called a meeting of its national executive in Delhi on June 29. The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is likely to organise a two-day review meeting on June 20-21 in Patna in which party chief Lalu Prasad is likely to participate.
The BJP had contested on 17 seats in Bihar under the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) seat-sharing arrangement with JD(U) and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and won 12 of them. It was the first to hold a review meeting to discuss selection of candidates, caste factor, alleged negligence of party workers and leaders at the local level, and reports of complacency among some candidates, which contributed to the party’s “below-par” performance. In 2019, the BJP had won all 17 seats it contested and this time, the party leaders were claiming that the NDA would bag all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the State. However, the BJP not only got fewer seats but a lower vote share as well, which declined from 24.5% to 20.52%. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, it received 29.40% of the votes.
State BJP leaders including Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Singh, organisational general secretary Bhikhu Bhai Dalsania, and others were present. “We mulled over our poor performance and decline in vote share. A report of the meeting will be submitted soon to the party’s Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde,” a senior State BJP functionary told The Hindu preferring anonymity.
Party sources said feedback has been sought from booth and block-level party workers, district presidents, Lok Sabha constituency in-charges and conveners broadly on three aspects: what worked in their favour, what went wrong, and how.
The NDA had performed better in north Bihar than south Bihar as out of 21 seats in Champaran, Mithila, Tirhut, and Seemanchal (border) areas, the NDA won 18 barring Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj. However, out of 10 seats in south Bihar, it lost seven - Aurangabad, Sasaram, Karakat, Buxar, Ara, Jehanabad, and Patliputra. In 2019, the BJP had won five of the seven.
The BJP’s alliance partner JD(U) which had performed well despite reports suggesting that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was battling a wave of unpopularity following his many political flip-flops, will also review its election performance at a meeting of the party’s national executive members in Delhi on June 29. The JD(U) won 12 seats, the same as the BJP, out of 16 it contested. The vote share of JD(U) too dipped from 22.3% in 2019 to 18.52% in 2024. Party president Mr. Kumar will be present at the meeting along with leaders who recently joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet as Ministers - Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh and Ramnath Thakur.
The Opposition RJD too is likely to hold a two-day review meeting on June 20 and 21 in which Mr. Prasad and his younger son and political heir Tejashwi Yadav will be present. The RJD won only four out of 23 seats it contested under the Mahagathbandhan alliance with the Congress, Vikashil Insaan Party, and three Left parties. Its vote share, though, was the highest in the State with 22.14% - a substantial jump from 15.7% in 2019.
